Tonight will take place the closing ceremony of the 74^ edition of Venice Film Festival, in which will be announced the prizes. Like everybody else we are also wondering about the winners. We rated the movies in competition that we saw in this days and this is the list.

On the 21 titles in the competition we saw 17 and we will guess who is going to win the most important prizes in the competition.

Starting from the bottom the Future Lion will probably go to Jusqu’a la garde by Xavier Legrand, his first movie that builds very well a growing tension between a couple that is splitting and the problem of the custody of the children. This movie will probably win also the Mastroianni Prize for an Emerging Actor for the interpretation by Thomas Gioria.

The prize for Best Screenplay we hope will be assigned to Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri by Martin McDonagh. It’s a movie loved by the public and by the critics, in the top of ratings for the whole week, and this can be the reason to achieve more important prizes. But looking to the other movies in competition we think is most likely that this movie will get this prize. This movie had also a great interpretation by Frances McDormand that probably will win the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. The Volpi Cup for Best Actor could go to Donald Sutherland for Paolo Virzì’s The Leisure Seeker.

The special Prize of the Jury it’s not so easy to guess because it depends on what kind of message the jury wants to send. Could be a prize for an idea or a universal message, or maybe a prize for a movie that couldn’t win other prizes, or to give a spot to something really original and provocative. This year the movie that can answer to the first possible scenario is Human Flow, a movie that can’t be liked or disliked, is just what it is, an encyclopedic journey through the immigration phenomenon. If they choose to give a prize to a movie that wouldn’t get credited easily somewhere else, the one to reward is The Shape of Water, authorial, liked by everyone from the critics to the public, sweet, accommodating but original. In the end to give a prize to something disruptive, we are betting on First Reformed by Paul Schrader, reflective but strong, that has the courage to put the spectator in front of something never seen before with an impact of images and dialogues very strong and different from the others.

For the Silver Lion for Best Director we hope that will be awarded Foxtrot by Samuel Maoz, that tells a good story, with a nonlinear structure, using a peculiar style of direction.

For the Golden Lion we are betting on mother! by Darren Aronofsky. It’s controversial, but we can’t ignore it. A work on the line between reality and illusion, with so many levels of interpretation, that talks to everybody and creates a physical tension in the audience.

It’s possible that this two prizes will exchange places, maybe because the jury can think that it could be more politically correct to reward with the Golden Lion the lesser known director Samuel Maoz and not a movie as provocative as mother!.

All the movies we talked about here are exceptional, and confirm that Venice is bold and ambitious with his selection. You can see in our list that there were also a lot of movies that we didn’t like and also some that we couldn’t watch, and so we don’t know if they can be awarded. But we can say that we are really satisfied about this edition and now…may the best win!

Golden Lion for Best Film: mother! by Darren Aronofsky

Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize: First Reformed by Paul Schrader

Silver Lion – Award for Best Director: Foxtrot by Samuel Maoz

Coppa Volpi for Best Actor: Donald Sutherland in The Leisure Seeker

Coppa Volpi for Best Actress: Frances McDormand in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Award for Best Screenplay: Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri by Martin McDonagh

Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress: Thomas Gioria in Jusq’à la garde